4 ms·

> Lots of people go overboard with this, though, like taking flu reduction medicine with every single cold or using medication to go to work sick. American medi

by TeMPOraL 11mo ago

> Lots of people go overboard with this, though, like taking flu reduction medicine with every single cold or using medication to go to work sick. American media seems especially accepting of people taking "flu medicine" over rest and recovery. This is not specific to America; it's a thing in the entire Western world, and probably beyond. Because it's not like we have any other choice. There is no slack in the system. Most people can't afford to have more than a few sick days in a year, and they prefer to save those up for when painkillers and cough medicine don't cut it anymore. Same with children, because a sick child staying home is usually equivalent to the parent taking a sick day themselves - either way, they're not at work. We can talk about media or people going overboard once it becomes acceptable to skip work for a week because of sick kid, or in order to not get everyone in the office sick too.

torben-friis 11mo ago
>Most people can't afford to have more than a few sick days in a year Sick days are unlimited in my country (and of course don’t count as vacation or similar). I think this is relatively standard for European countries, though not 100% sure.
- TeMPOraL 11mo ago
  They may be on paper, but I can't imagine taking one every time you have a runny nose or a sore throat. Everyone from your employer to social insurance[0] will start looking at you funny. It's just unexpected, even though it's how you're supposed to be handling infectious diseases to prevent spread. -- [0] - Or whoever is backing the free healthcare in your country.
  - torben-friis 11mo ago
    Yes, that much is true. Remote working for those in between cases is accepted, but it does reduce the practice to the luckier subset of office workers.
tarsinge 11mo ago
But flu isn’t just a cold, it’s a serious disease. If they are sick to the point they have fever then they can’t really afford to not rest as it has a cost in the form of longer health debt. And even short term, by letting the fever run and resting and being 100% operational can be more productive than being a zombie on medications for weeks.
- m4rtink 11mo ago
  Not to mention it is an infectious disease that they will spread to other people if they go to work.
  - TeMPOraL 11mo ago
    By the time they can tell it's "the flu" and not just "a cold", they've been infecting everyone for days already. Not to mention, cold is an infectious disease too (it's literally the same disease, just a weaker variant caused by strains that evolved their potency away), it too will spread to other people if they go to work.
    - andor 11mo ago
      Some people colloquially call a cold "the flu", but the common cold is very different to influenza. Please don't spread misinformation.
    - dragonwriter 11mo ago
      > Not to mention, cold is an infectious disease too (it's literally the same disease, just a weaker variant caused by strains that evolved their potency away) “The cold” is actually any of a wide variety of different viral diseases (caused by various forms of rhinovirus, coronavirus [0], and, I think, a few other kinds of viruses), none of which are flu (influenza virus). It is not a less potent flu. [0] so calling COVID-19 “a bad cold” is correct from a certain point of view, despite being substantively misleading.
      - TeMPOraL 11mo ago
benterix 11mo ago
> Most people can't afford to have more than a few sick days in a year I believe it's true in the USA, but not necessarily in Europe. It's quite normal that you have two infections a year, plus sometimes your kid catches something at a completely different time, so the law protects you in these situations.
- TeMPOraL 11mo ago
  Yes, but there's what the law says, and there's process, and there's expectations. You can't just take a legal sick day each time you have a runny nose (good luck finding a doctor that fast), and even if you could, you'd quickly stand out. "Two infections a year" is an average for adults who power through remaining ones with painkillers and cough meds; if they didn't, we'd be talking 5+, probably closer to 10 if they have kindergarten-age kids.
  - basisword 11mo ago
    It sounds like you just have a terrible employer. If I get the flu, I'm taking a few days off. If I feel poorly, I'm not working. Never been a problem with any employer. 5-10 sicks days a year is completely normal. You cannot be fired for this.
    - TeMPOraL 11mo ago
      If you get the flu, and know it's a flu, you're a few days too late to take sick leave for it to be useful at preventing infecting your co-workers. 5-10 days of sick leave a year is perfectly normal, because that's how much people need to cover serious infections that cannot be easily powered through with meds.
  - jeroenhd 11mo ago
    Sounds like you have a pretty terrible employer. Of course there's an expectation that you're not taking sick leave for every minor cough or sniffle, but "powering through" infections is pretty absurd to expect from your employees.

torben-friis 11mo ago

>Most people can't afford to have more than a few sick days in a year Sick days are unlimited in my country (and of course don’t count as vacation or similar). I think this is relatively standard for European countries, though not 100% sure.

TeMPOraL 11mo ago
They may be on paper, but I can't imagine taking one every time you have a runny nose or a sore throat. Everyone from your employer to social insurance[0] will start looking at you funny. It's just unexpected, even though it's how you're supposed to be handling infectious diseases to prevent spread. -- [0] - Or whoever is backing the free healthcare in your country.
- torben-friis 11mo ago
  Yes, that much is true. Remote working for those in between cases is accepted, but it does reduce the practice to the luckier subset of office workers.

tarsinge 11mo ago

But flu isn’t just a cold, it’s a serious disease. If they are sick to the point they have fever then they can’t really afford to not rest as it has a cost in the form of longer health debt. And even short term, by letting the fever run and resting and being 100% operational can be more productive than being a zombie on medications for weeks.

m4rtink 11mo ago
Not to mention it is an infectious disease that they will spread to other people if they go to work.
- TeMPOraL 11mo ago
  By the time they can tell it's "the flu" and not just "a cold", they've been infecting everyone for days already. Not to mention, cold is an infectious disease too (it's literally the same disease, just a weaker variant caused by strains that evolved their potency away), it too will spread to other people if they go to work.
  - andor 11mo ago
    Some people colloquially call a cold "the flu", but the common cold is very different to influenza. Please don't spread misinformation.
  - dragonwriter 11mo ago
    > Not to mention, cold is an infectious disease too (it's literally the same disease, just a weaker variant caused by strains that evolved their potency away) “The cold” is actually any of a wide variety of different viral diseases (caused by various forms of rhinovirus, coronavirus [0], and, I think, a few other kinds of viruses), none of which are flu (influenza virus). It is not a less potent flu. [0] so calling COVID-19 “a bad cold” is correct from a certain point of view, despite being substantively misleading.
    - TeMPOraL 11mo ago

benterix 11mo ago

> Most people can't afford to have more than a few sick days in a year I believe it's true in the USA, but not necessarily in Europe. It's quite normal that you have two infections a year, plus sometimes your kid catches something at a completely different time, so the law protects you in these situations.

TeMPOraL 11mo ago
Yes, but there's what the law says, and there's process, and there's expectations. You can't just take a legal sick day each time you have a runny nose (good luck finding a doctor that fast), and even if you could, you'd quickly stand out. "Two infections a year" is an average for adults who power through remaining ones with painkillers and cough meds; if they didn't, we'd be talking 5+, probably closer to 10 if they have kindergarten-age kids.
- basisword 11mo ago
  It sounds like you just have a terrible employer. If I get the flu, I'm taking a few days off. If I feel poorly, I'm not working. Never been a problem with any employer. 5-10 sicks days a year is completely normal. You cannot be fired for this.
  - TeMPOraL 11mo ago
    If you get the flu, and know it's a flu, you're a few days too late to take sick leave for it to be useful at preventing infecting your co-workers. 5-10 days of sick leave a year is perfectly normal, because that's how much people need to cover serious infections that cannot be easily powered through with meds.
- jeroenhd 11mo ago
  Sounds like you have a pretty terrible employer. Of course there's an expectation that you're not taking sick leave for every minor cough or sniffle, but "powering through" infections is pretty absurd to expect from your employees.